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http://www.cbssports.com/mma/story/1...rs-destruction
writers like this one, twist facts to hype things up. they are responsible for UFC/MMA huggers to believe that mma is better than boxing.
tsk, tsk, tsk
UFC heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar lost Saturday night, and this is why mixed martial arts is the greatest combat sport in the world.
Not because Lesnar did lose. But simply because he could.
See, Lesnar should never lose. He's bigger, stronger, faster, meaner than anyone he will ever fight. Lesnar's a freak of nature, and if this were boxing, his record would be something like 41-2 -- which is the record of WBC heavyweight boxing champion Vitali Klitschko.
In boxing, the very best fighters don't lose. Not ever. Floyd Mayweather is 41-0. Klitschko is 41-2. That makes for great legacies but predictable fights, because when Mayweather fights, he wins. Plunk down $45 for that pay-per-view, but only if you like to watch a story whose ending you already know.
Me, I'll stick with MMA, which is beautiful because you just don't know.
In fact, even when you do know, you're wrong. On paper there was no way Lesnar could lose Saturday night at UFC 121 to challenger Cain Velasquez. Lesnar was 25 pounds heavier, all of it muscle. So he was stronger than Velasquez, but he was also quicker, more explosive. Physically speaking, Brock Lesnar is the LeBron James of his sport -- damn near superhuman, physically.
Velasquez had serious skills of his own, most notably his collegiate wrestling background, but even there Lesnar was better. Velasquez was an NCAA All-American. Lesnar was an NCAA champion.
Velasquez had just one recognized edge over Lesnar -- his freakish cardio -- but that would be an advantage only if the fight went into the late rounds. First, Velasquez would have to get it there. The conventional wisdom held that Velasquez could win, but only if he wore Lesnar down early and grinded out a victory late.
Well, the fight ended early. It ended in about four minutes. One man ran right through the other man, but it wasn't Lesnar running through Velasquez. It was Velasquez running through Lesnar.
Funny thing about fighting. All your edges -- superior size, strength, speed -- disappear when a knee hits you on the chin. That's what happened Saturday night. Lesnar and Velasquez were in close quarters, where the advantage clearly would be Lesnar's, except for that knee by Velasquez that shot up through Lesnar's hands and elbows and shoulders and didn't stop until it hit Lesnar's chin. The fight would last another minute or so, but at that moment it was over. Lesnar was a bleeding mess, his knees weak, his will gone.
Shocked the hell out of me, which proves two things. One, MMA is unpredictable. And, two, I'll never learn.
About a year ago, I had this great idea for a story. Never wrote it, not even sure why, but thank goodness about that because it would have been the most incorrect story anyone has ever written on any topic, anywhere. My idea was this: UFC president Dana White had a growing problem on his hands, because he was overseeing a sport that had unbeatable champions in four of five weight classes. The beauty of MMA, as I've said, was that anything can happen -- anyone can lose -- inside the cage. But the UFC had four champions who defied that: lightweight B.J. Penn, welterweight Georges St. Pierre, middleweight Anderson Silva and heavyweight Brock Lesnar.
That was my story idea: How does Dana White market a sport that was dangerously close to becoming as predictable as boxing, where the best fighters simply don't ever lose?
Well, that was then. And this is now. Frankie Edgar is the lightweight champion because he beat Penn for the title in April with superior boxing, wrestling and quickness -- and then he did it again, even more convincingly, in their rematch in August.
Is Frankie Edgar unbeatable? No. But B.J. Penn was, and Edgar toyed with him.
St. Pierre and Silva remain champions in their weight classes, and while St. Pierre has fought just once in the last 1½ years, Silva fought in August and nearly -- should have -- lost. Against one-dimensional wrestler Chael Sonnen, Silva was manhandled for 23 minutes by that one dimension. Sonnen was minutes away from winning a decisive decision when Silva, swollen and bloody on his back, caught him in a triangle choke and won by submission.
And then there was Lesnar, who survived a Round 1 onslaught by Shane Carwin to win their fight in July. I dismissed that as a fluke -- Carwin caught Lesnar with a lucky uppercut early, and anyway, Lesnar was fighting after having a near-fatal bout of diverticulitis. That wasn't Lesnar at his best.
Saturday night? That was Lesnar at his best. And Velasquez destroyed him.
So now I wait for the inevitable. I wait for someone to destroy Cain Velasquez.
But I'll wait forever before someone destroys Georges St. Pierre. That guy's unbeatable.
And there I go again ...
Not because Lesnar did lose. But simply because he could.
See, Lesnar should never lose. He's bigger, stronger, faster, meaner than anyone he will ever fight. Lesnar's a freak of nature, and if this were boxing, his record would be something like 41-2 -- which is the record of WBC heavyweight boxing champion Vitali Klitschko.
In boxing, the very best fighters don't lose. Not ever. Floyd Mayweather is 41-0. Klitschko is 41-2. That makes for great legacies but predictable fights, because when Mayweather fights, he wins. Plunk down $45 for that pay-per-view, but only if you like to watch a story whose ending you already know.
Me, I'll stick with MMA, which is beautiful because you just don't know.
In fact, even when you do know, you're wrong. On paper there was no way Lesnar could lose Saturday night at UFC 121 to challenger Cain Velasquez. Lesnar was 25 pounds heavier, all of it muscle. So he was stronger than Velasquez, but he was also quicker, more explosive. Physically speaking, Brock Lesnar is the LeBron James of his sport -- damn near superhuman, physically.
Velasquez had serious skills of his own, most notably his collegiate wrestling background, but even there Lesnar was better. Velasquez was an NCAA All-American. Lesnar was an NCAA champion.
Velasquez had just one recognized edge over Lesnar -- his freakish cardio -- but that would be an advantage only if the fight went into the late rounds. First, Velasquez would have to get it there. The conventional wisdom held that Velasquez could win, but only if he wore Lesnar down early and grinded out a victory late.
Well, the fight ended early. It ended in about four minutes. One man ran right through the other man, but it wasn't Lesnar running through Velasquez. It was Velasquez running through Lesnar.
Funny thing about fighting. All your edges -- superior size, strength, speed -- disappear when a knee hits you on the chin. That's what happened Saturday night. Lesnar and Velasquez were in close quarters, where the advantage clearly would be Lesnar's, except for that knee by Velasquez that shot up through Lesnar's hands and elbows and shoulders and didn't stop until it hit Lesnar's chin. The fight would last another minute or so, but at that moment it was over. Lesnar was a bleeding mess, his knees weak, his will gone.
Shocked the hell out of me, which proves two things. One, MMA is unpredictable. And, two, I'll never learn.
About a year ago, I had this great idea for a story. Never wrote it, not even sure why, but thank goodness about that because it would have been the most incorrect story anyone has ever written on any topic, anywhere. My idea was this: UFC president Dana White had a growing problem on his hands, because he was overseeing a sport that had unbeatable champions in four of five weight classes. The beauty of MMA, as I've said, was that anything can happen -- anyone can lose -- inside the cage. But the UFC had four champions who defied that: lightweight B.J. Penn, welterweight Georges St. Pierre, middleweight Anderson Silva and heavyweight Brock Lesnar.
That was my story idea: How does Dana White market a sport that was dangerously close to becoming as predictable as boxing, where the best fighters simply don't ever lose?
Well, that was then. And this is now. Frankie Edgar is the lightweight champion because he beat Penn for the title in April with superior boxing, wrestling and quickness -- and then he did it again, even more convincingly, in their rematch in August.
Is Frankie Edgar unbeatable? No. But B.J. Penn was, and Edgar toyed with him.
St. Pierre and Silva remain champions in their weight classes, and while St. Pierre has fought just once in the last 1½ years, Silva fought in August and nearly -- should have -- lost. Against one-dimensional wrestler Chael Sonnen, Silva was manhandled for 23 minutes by that one dimension. Sonnen was minutes away from winning a decisive decision when Silva, swollen and bloody on his back, caught him in a triangle choke and won by submission.
And then there was Lesnar, who survived a Round 1 onslaught by Shane Carwin to win their fight in July. I dismissed that as a fluke -- Carwin caught Lesnar with a lucky uppercut early, and anyway, Lesnar was fighting after having a near-fatal bout of diverticulitis. That wasn't Lesnar at his best.
Saturday night? That was Lesnar at his best. And Velasquez destroyed him.
So now I wait for the inevitable. I wait for someone to destroy Cain Velasquez.
But I'll wait forever before someone destroys Georges St. Pierre. That guy's unbeatable.
And there I go again ...
tsk, tsk, tsk
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